第 9 节
作者:
点绛唇 更新:2024-04-07 11:54 字数:9320
effects; without the employment of appropriate causes。 The Great
Teacher dealt what ought to have been the final blow to this infinite
irrelevancy by a single question; 〃Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles?〃
Why; then; did the Great Teacher not educate His followers fully?
Why did He not tell us; for example; how such a thing as Rest might
be obtained? The answer is that HE DID。 But plainly; explicitly;
in so many words? Yes; plainly; explicitly; in so many words。
He assigned Rest to its cause; in words with which each of us has
been familiar from his earliest childhood。
He begins; you rememberfor you at once know the passage I refer
toalmost as if Rest could be had without any cause; 〃Come unto
me;〃 He says; 〃and I will GIVE you Rest。〃
Rest; apparently; was a favor to be bestowed; men had but to
come to Him; He would give it to every applicant。 But the next
sentence takes that all back。 The qualification; indeed; is added
instantaneously。 For what the first sentence seemed to give was
next thing to an impossibility。 For how; in a literal sense; can
Rest be GIVEN? One could no more give away Rest than he could
give away Laughter。 We speak of 〃causing〃 laughter; which we can
do; but we can not give it away。 When we speak of 〃giving〃 pain;
we know perfectly well we can not give pain away。 And when we aim
at 〃giving〃 pleasure; all that we can do is to arrange a set of
circumstances in such a way as that these shall cause pleasure。
Of course there is a sense; and a very wonderful sense; in which a
Great Personality breathes upon all who come within its influence
an abiding peace and trust。 Men can be to other men as the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land; much more Christ; much more Christ
as Perfect Man; much more still as Savior of the world。 But it
is not this of which I speak。 When Christ said He would give men
Rest; He meant simply that he would put them in the way of it。 By
no act of conveyance would or could He make over His own Rest to
them。 He could give them
His receipt
for it。 That was all。 But He would not make it for them。 For
one thing it was not in His plan to make it for them; for another
thing; men were not so planned that it could be made for them; and
for yet another thing; it was a thousand times better that they
should make it for themselves。
That this is the meaning becomes obvious from the wording of the
second sentence: 〃Learn of me; and ye shall FIND Rest。〃 Rest;
(that is to say); is not a thing that can be GIVEN; but a thing to
be ACQUIRED。 It comes not by an act; but by a process。 It is not
to be found in a happy hour; as one finds a treasure; but slowly; as
one finds knowledge。 It could indeed be no more found in a moment
than could knowledge。 A soil has to be prepared for it。 Like
a fine fruit; it will grow in one climate; and not in another; at
one altitude; and not at another。 Like all growth it will have an
orderly development and mature by slow degrees。
The nature of this slow process Christ clearly defines when He says
we are to achieve Rest by LEARNING。 〃Learn of me;〃 He says; 〃and
ye shall find rest to your souls。〃
Now consider the extraordinary
Originality of this utterance。
how novel the connection between these two words 〃Learn〃 and 〃Rest。〃
How few of us have ever associated themever thought that Rest was
a thing to be learned; ever laid ourselves out for it as we would
to learn a language; ever practised it as we would practice the
violin? Does it not show how entirely new Christ's teaching still
is to the world; that so old and threadbare an aphorism should still
be so little known? The last thing most of us would have thought
of would have been to associate REST with WORK。
What must one work at? What is that which if duly learned will
find the soul of man in Rest? Christ answers without the least
hesitation。 He specifies two thingsMeekness and Lowliness。
〃Learn of me;〃 He says; 〃for I am MEEK and LOWLY in heart。〃
Now these two things are not chosen at random。 To these
accomplishments; in a special way; Rest is attached。 Learn these;
in short; and you have already found Rest。 These as they stand
direct causes of Rest; will produce it at once; cannot but produce
it at once。 And if you think for a single moment; you will see
how this is necessarily so; for causes are never arbitrary; and
the connection between antecedent and consequent her and everywhere
lies deep in the nature of things。
What is the connection; then? I answer by a further question。
What are the chief causes of unrest?
If you know yourself; you will answerPride; Selfishness; Ambition。
As you look back upon the past years of your life; is it not
true that its unhappiness has chiefly come from the succession of
personal mortifications and almost trivial disappointments which
the intercourse of life has brought you? Great trials come at
lengthened intervals; and we rise to breast them; but it is the
petty friction of our every…day life with one another; the jar
of business or of work; the discord of the domestic circle; the
collapse of our ambition; the crossing of our will or the taking
down of our conceit; which make inward peace impossible。 Wounded
vanity; then; disappointed hopes; unsatisfied selfishnessthese
are the old; vulgar; universal
Sources of man's unrest。
Now it is obvious why Christ pointed out as the two chief objects
for attainment the exact opposites of these。 To meekness and
lowliness these things simply do not exist。 They cure unrest by
making it impossible。 These remedies do not trifle with surface
symptoms; they strike at once at removing causes。 The ceaseless
chagrin of a self…centered life can be removed at once by learning
meekness and lowliness of heart。 He who learns them is forever proof
against it。 He lives henceforth a charmed life。 Christianity is
a fine inoculation; a transfusion of healthy blood into an anaemic
or poisoned soul。 No fever can attack a perfectly sound body; no
fever of unrest can disturb a soul which has breathed the air or
learned the ways of Christ。
Men sigh for the wings of a dove that they may fly away and be at
Rest。 But flying away will not help us。 〃The Kingdom of God is
WITHIN YOU。〃 We aspire to the top to look for Rest; it lies at the
bottom。 Water rests only when it gets to the lowest place。 So do
men。 Hence; BE LOWLY。 The man who has no opinion of himself at
all can never be hurt if others do not acknowledge him。 Hence; BE
MEEK。 He who is without expectation cannot fret if nothing comes
to him。 It is self…evident that these things are so。 The lowly
man and the meek man are really above all other men; above all other
things。 They dominate the world because they do not care for it。
The miser does not possess gold; gold possesses him。 But the meek
possess it。 〃The meek;〃 said Christ; 〃inherit the earth。〃 They
do not buy it; they do not conquer it; but they inherit it。
There are people who go about the world looking out for slights;
and they are necessarily miserable; for they find them at every
turnespecially the imaginary ones。 One has the same pity for
such men as for the very poor。 They are the morally illiterate。
They have had no real education; for they have never learned
How to live。
Few men know how to live。 We grow up at random carrying into mature
life the merely animal methods and motives which we had as little
children。 And it does not occur to us that all this must be changed
that much of it must be reversed; that life is the finest of the
Fine Arts; that it has to be learned with life…long patience; and
that the years of our pilgrimage are all too short to master it
triumphantly。
Yet this is what Christianity is forto teach men
The art of life。
And its whole curriculum lies in one word〃Learn of me。〃 Unlike
most education; this is almost purely personal; it is not to be had
from books; or lectures or creeds or doctrines。 It is a study from
the life。 Christ never said much in mere words about the Christian
graces。 He lived them; He was them。 Yet we do not merely copy
Him。 We learn His art by living with Him; like the old apprentices
with their masters。
Now we understand it all? Christ's invitation to the weary
and heavy…laden is a call to begin life over again upon a new
principleupon His own principle。 〃Watch my way of doing things;〃
He says; 〃Follow me。 Take life as I take it。 Be meek and lowly;
and you will find Rest。〃
I do not say; remember; that the Christian life to every man; or
to any man; can be a bed of roses。 No educational process can be
this。 And perhaps if some men knew how much was involved in the
simple 〃learn〃 of Christ; they would not enter His school with so
irresponsible a heart。 For there is not only much to learn; but